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Two underrated raunchy comedies starring Billy Bob Thornton have a new streaming home. Both these movies are available on the Max streaming service.

As of April 1, Bad Santa has joined the ever-expanding catalog of feature films available on HBO's Max streaming service. Its sequel, Bad Santa 2, is also available for streaming on the platform, giving fans the opportunity to binge the entire Bad Santa experience in one place.

Directed by Terry Zwigoff from a script written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, which itself was based on a story by the formally uncredited Cohen Brothers, Bad Santa starred Billy Bob Thornton as Willie T. Soke, a professional thief who works with his partner Marcus Skidmore, portrayed by Tony Cox, pulling off various small time heists.

When their attention turns towards a local shopping mall, the pair take jobs as a mall Santa and elf to gain easy access to their real target.

From heartfelt dramas to laugh-out-loud comedies, there are plenty of great movies featuring the talented Gilmore Girls cast. The show is known for its witty dialogue, complex characters, and the charm of small-town life in Stars Hollow. Even now, close to 20 years after the series ended, Gilmore Girls remains a positively-reviewed, beloved show that's stood the test of time.

Beyond their roles in the show, the main Gilmore Girls cast members have each starred in movies that range from feel-good blockbusters to indie favorites, each offering a chance to showcase the actors in fresh, diverse settings. Whether a die-hard fan of Lorelai and Rory or intrigued by the show’s supporting characters, these films are a must-watch for a deeper appreciation of the cast’s wide-ranging skills.

Lauren Graham - Bad Santa (2003) Directed by Terry Zwigoff

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The unconventional holiday classic Bad Santa and its sequel have proven to be a free streaming hit this Christmas, as the movies hold the top two spots on Pluto TV in the U.S. The Billy Bob Thornton-led R-rated comedies certainly aren’t the kind of movies to sit and watch with the kids and your elderly aunt, but that hasn’t stopped it making a huge impression after joining the platform this December.

Despite its position as one of the most irreverent Christmas movies of all time, it seems that the black comedy, with its crude humor and anti-holiday vibe, is proving to be just as much of a hit as family comedy classics such as The Santa Clause, Home Alone, and Elf. Perhaps there is only so much saccharine-laden Christmas cheer that anyone can take, and there really isn’t a better alternative than Bad Santa to counter it.

Quick Links A Wonderful Younger Cast Lifts 'Unaccompanied Minors' Spencer Rescues His Sister and Saves Christmas in 'Unaccompanied Minors'

Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg initially came up with the story for The Goonies when he was beginning to direct 1985’s The Color Purple. The question that started this rather surprising thought process was, ironically, a simple one: What kind of wild adventures do kids get into on rainy days? Well, according to him, venturing underground in search of One Eyed Willy’s treasure, carefully treading through many different traps set by the legendary pirate and also avoiding a very intimidating crime family (who are shaped like a bunch of oversized brutes).

Combining Spielberg’s love for filmmaking with the natural camaraderie between the then-child actors, this adventure movie became a quick success, surpassing its budget enormously and being praised by audiences and critics alike (Variety calling it a dangerous...

Horror movies are the perfect films to watch during Halloween, making it the holiday of choice for many of them. Eli Roth's slasher movie Thanksgiving brought a heaping helping of horror on another day of the year. While it's certainly a change of pace, it's not the only explicitly holiday-themed scary movie.

Christmas is another popular time to spread holiday fear, with some movies decking the halls with bowels of victims. Conversely, one fearsome movie explores the concept of a particularly bad birthday through the lens of another "holiday" movie. Add in a European pagan celebration for the changing of seasons, and it's clear that Thanksgiving will have some seasonal competition from discerning movie lovers.

Updated by Arthur Goyaz on November 25, 2024: The holiday season has begun, arguably the best time of the year to catch up with holiday horror movies. For fans of the genre, the transition from...

As the holiday season quickly approaches, it's time for movie fans to start breaking out the classics of Christmas' past. The 2003 dark-comedy Bad Santa is a hit that still makes it onto audiences' must-watch list this time of year, even two decades after its release. Starring the Academy-Award winning actor, writer, and director Billy Bob Thornton, best known for the film adaption of Sling Blade, the movie follows the hysterical antics of a drunken, department-store Santa named Willie who gets his jollies by swearing at children, hooking up in dressing rooms, and robbing retailers every Christmas Eve.

The film's lead recently appeared on the BBC program The One Show to promote his new series Landman, exclusively streaming on Paramount Plus. During his interview, despite Bad Santa's box-office success, he admitted that he initially thought the movie would end his career. A naughty Father of Christmas who takes his misery...

The horror genre keeps churning out great movies, such as the intoxicating Hugh Grant thriller Heretic. Part of its success is how it's able to produce movies that not only terrify audiences with gross-out scenes or a well-timed jump-scare, but also be a ton of fun. A great example of this is the Terrifier series, with Terrifier 3's funniest moments arriving among the requisite brutality and gore. Thanks mainly to Art the Clown's silent, but deadly, humor.

However, it's not just more recent horror films that have managed to be creepy as all hell, while bringing some solid fun along the way. Classic franchises have gained popularity thanks to quick-witted villains like Freddy Krueger, who is also incredibly creepy. The great thing about the horror genre is its ability to bring audiences together, to share an experience that'll be intense, and uncomfortable at times, but also a lot of fun.

The bungling of Trick ‘r Treat by Warner Bros. — shelving it after well-received festival screenings before unceremoniously dumping it straight to DVD in 2009 — is well-documented, but had it received a traditional theatrical release and underperformed, there’s a chance it may have never entered the cultural zeitgeist. Instead, its authentic cult roots allowed it to blossom into the contemporary classic we celebrate today.

Trick ‘r Treat stands alongside the opening credits of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers as a felicitous distillation of the Halloween atmosphere on celluloid. Sam, the impish demon played by 7-year-old Quinn Lord that serves as the film’s mascot, personifies the tricks and treats of Halloween while serving as the connective tissue between segments.

Writer-director Michael Dougherty — in his feature debut after making a name for himself as a writer on X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns — evokes Pulp Fiction with his expertly crafted...

Trick 'r Treat fans just got a much-needed update about the franchise's big-screen future. Michael Doughtery, who wrote and directed the original horror movie, recently offered a positive update on the long-gestating sequel.

In a new commentary track for Trick 'r Treat, released in Arrow Video's 4K Ultra HD edition of the movie, Dougherty opened up about the difficulties plaguing the sequel, which was first announced back in 2013. "Its tricky, because I think we really did capture lightning in a bottle with this one, and it nearly killed me. What a lot of people dont realize is that the bulk of our favorite horror movies, especially the ones that introduced new horror icons, were all independent movies," said Dougherty (via Bloody Disgusting) about having to work within the studio system for Trick 'r Treat.

Related 'Who Wouldn't Want to Do a Vampire Film?': The Radleys Stars Mix Horror...

[Warning: The below contains Major spoilers for the October 23 episode of Jeopardy!] Jeopardy! viewers were buzzing about the appearance of Brett Kelly ahead of Wednesday, October 23’s episode. While Kelly didn’t disclose his acting credits on stage, eagle-eyed fans earlier recognized him on the Contestant Zone. That’s because he starred opposite Billy Bob Thorton as kid sidekick Thurston Merman in the very R-rated Christmas comedy Bad Santa (2003). Now all grown up, Kelly did not have a jolly outcome on the quiz show. Listed as an actor from Surrey, British Columbia, he faced Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas who became the new champ with the sole Final Jeopardy get last episode, and Sophia Maymudes, a software engineer from Seattle, Washington. Wallace entered with a one-day total of $18,799. But after the Jeopardy! round, it was crossword puzzle savant Maymudes who stole the show. She crossed out the entire “Be Witched” category and led with $6200 despite a ...

In the Wednesday October 23, 2024, episode of Jeopardy!, three contestants competed: Brett Kelly, an actor from Surrey, British Columbia; Sophia Maymudes, a software engineer from Seattle, Washington; and Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, Texas. Will entered the game as a one-day champion with winnings of $18,799. The categories for the Jeopardy! […]

Jeopardy! Wednesday October 23, 2024, Recap, Winner and Final Answer...

Stars: Darren Stevens, Mark Templin, Peter Whittaker, Ellen Mildred, Melanie Evans | Written by Trevor Payer | Directed by Brett Kelly

[Note: Nerdly’s Managing Editor Phil is listed as an Executive Producer on the following film, however that does not, and will not, affect the outcome of this review]

Does anyone remember a film from the 60s called Fantastic Voyage? It starred Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch as doctors who were miniaturized and injected into an injured scientist to save his life by dissolving a blood clot. It was a fun, if silly, piece of big-budget sci-fi that was constantly on TV well into the 80s. Now the makers of Nanoshark, director Brett Kelly and writer Trevor Payer, have given us an updated version, and not only has he done it for less than the original’s daily coffee budget, he’s added a shark, a nanoshark no less, to the plot as well.

As the Prime Minister, this is a Canadian film, is preparing to give a speech, his son collapses. Doctors determine that he’s the victim of a rare blood disease,...

Jeopardy! fans are in for some star power this week — though not in the form of Emma Stone. Brett Kelly, who starred as Thurman Merman opposite Billy Bob Thorton in the very R-rated Christmas comedy Bad Santa (2003), will compete on Wednesday, October 23’s episode. Just eight when he appeared in the cult classic, Kelly is now 31. Listed as an actor from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, he will face the returning champion and Sophia Mayudes, a Seattle, Washington software engineer: An eagle-eyed fan caught wind of Kelly’s addition to the Contestant Zone on Monday, titling a post in the Jeopardy! subreddit: “The Kid from Bad Santa (Brett Kelly) is going to be a contestant on Wednesday’s Jeopardy.” They added: “The actor who played ‘The Kid’ in Bad Santa, Brett Kelly, with that instantly recognizable face, is going to be a contestant on Wednesday’s Jeopardy! episode. He was also in Trick r’ Treat.

Ho Ho Ho motherf*ckers! Yup, it’s that time of year again…the giving season. As families everywhere come together to celebrate the holidays, bundle up by the fire, and indulge in a parade of sappy Christmas movies, the real adults in the room are going to need something with a bit more kick. Think about it, the all-time best Christmas movies – It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, you name it – all revolve around sentimental family-friendly stories for children and adults to enjoy equally. But f*ck all that, Jack, this year we’re all about honoring a bona fide Christmas classic expressly aimed at adult audiences. While Die Hard and Violent Night are worthy action-packed contenders, it’s time to dish out the edible cookies and spiked eggnog for Bad Santa – easily the most politically incorrect and controversially transgressive Christmas comedy on record.

Clockwork from bottom left: Gremlins (Screenshot: Warners Bros.), Silent Night (Screenshot: Lionsgate), Krampus (Screenshot: Universal Pictures), Bad Santa (Screenshot: Columbia Pictures), A Bad Moms Christmas (Screenshot: STX Entertainment)Graphic: The A.V. Club

It’s Christmas time again, which means more marathons of the same old sappy, feel-good movies. But what...

Warner Bros. underestimated Trick 'r Treat, leading to a delayed release and a cult classic status. Trick 'r Treat is an anthology, but the short-stories are connected. The interconnected stories in Trick 'r Treat culminate in satisfying and dark twists, showcasing karmic justice.

Trick 'r Treat went from studio afterthought to beloved Halloween classic, but not all the horror anthology's stories are created equal, with some chapters ranking better or worse than others. Not knowing what it had on its hands, Warner Bros. infamously sat on Trick 'r Treat for several years after its completion. Unsure how to market director Michael Dougherty's structure-bending anthology, the studio failed to bank on the film's exploration of Halloween lore and gave Trick 'r Treat a quiet direct-to-video release. Against all odds, this led to the movie's cult classic status.

For decades, when it came to horror movies that were required viewing on Halloween,...

Stars: John Migliore, Deborah Jayne Reilly Smith, Kylie Gough, Simon Wheeldon, Lena Montecalvo, Sabrina Migliore, Mike Trebilcock, Jim Ordolis | Written and Directed by John Migliore

Let’s firstly address the biggest question; is it vital to see 2020’s Ouija Shark before this sequel? Will the plot intricacies be lost on anybody who missed director Brett Kelly’s third shark-centric feature? Worry not, as a catch-up is offered in the opening moments courtesy of Anthony (writer/director/star John Migliore). Speaking through a mystical ball, the magician recaps the first film’s events where his daughter’s aquatic discovery of a Ouija board released the Ouija Shark onto the world before its banishment resulted in Anthony being trapped in hell.

The sequel journeys to the location of eternal damnation and brimstone, as Anthony pursues the eponymous shark to try and stop its rampage. Meanwhile, a rescue plan is being formed by his wife,...

One of the most frustratingly mangled Hollywood success stories pertains to the supposed post-production salvation of "Bad Santa." Written by the then up-and-coming duo of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (based on a pitch from Joel and Ethan Coen), and directed by Terry Zwigoff (hot off the Academy Award-nominated "Ghost World"), the legend holds that Zwigoff's cut of the film was so relentlessly mean-spirited as to be unreleasable. This was backed up 13 years after the film's successful theatrical release by a selectively edited New York Times oral history, which privileges Bob Weinstein's version of the story.

You can't argue with the results. "Bad Santa" was the surprise, coal-in-the-stocking Christmas hit of 2003. Billy Bob Thornton's portrayal of an alcoholic mall Santa, who lazily participates in seasonal, criminal shenanigans with his elf helper, Marcus (Tony Cox), hit anti-consumerist notes with shocking brio. It reveled in the profane freedom of its...

Terry Zwigoff's 2003 film "Bad Santa" was more or less destined for cult classic status. Starring an Academy Award-winning actor, "Bad Santa" was deliberately crass and misanthropic, an antidote to the treacly sentimentality that ordinarily infuses films explicitly about Christmas.

In "Bad Santa," Billy Bob Thornton plays an itinerant mall Santa named Willie who uses his seasonal job to plan last-minute mall heists with his partner Marcus (Tony Cox), who poses as one of Santa's Elves. The heists typically go well, but just barely, as Willie is a wrathful, cruel alcoholic who has a great deal of trouble controlling his constant base impulses toward cussing and lechery. The late Bernie Mac played Gin, a mall manager who caught wise to Marcus' and Willie's plan, and Lauren Graham played Sue, a woman with a Santa Claus fetish that Willie was happy to indulge. Nine-year-old Brett Kelly played an unobservant boy named...

The holiday season is in full swing! To help you get into the festive spirit, Et Canada has rounded up a list of holiday films, from beloved classics to new releases, available to stream in Canada.

“Falling for Christmas” (2022)

In this recently released holiday film, Lindsay Lohan returns to the screen as “a newly engaged, spoiled hotel heiress” who gets into a skiing accident and suffers from total amnesia. She “finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter in the days leading up to Christmas.” Stream “Falling for Christmas” on Netflix.

“The Noel Diary” (2022)

This upcoming festive rom-com stars Justin Hartley as a best-selling author who returns home at Christmas “to settle his estranged mother’s estate.” While there, he discovers a diary that may hold secrets to his past as well as that of “an intriguing young woman on a mission of her own,...

With the holiday season fast approaching, it's that time of year when movie journalists and film critics start wheeling out their lists of alternative and anti-Christmas classics. If ever there was a film tailor-made for such picks, it is "Bad Santa."

In the true spirit of seasonal generosity, screenwriters Glenn Ficarra and John Requa created a script gleefully intended to offer offense to all comers, and everyone involved looks like they're having plenty of fun working their way onto Santa's naughty list. Yet the key to the film's longevity is that it remains firmly on the side of clever-offensive; if it was simply another bland gross-out comedy, it probably wouldn't have become an instant cult classic that, despite its potty mouth and all-round vulgarity, still warms our cockles after repeat viewings.

As the instantly forgettable sequel proved, you can be crass, foul-mouthed, and gross, but to pull it off and...

If I’ve learned anything from Trick ‘r Treat, it’s that you don’t disrespect Halloween. “I hate Halloween,” says Emma (Leslie Bibb) in the opening scene. She blows out the lone jack o’lantern and whines to her husband Henry (Tahmoh Penikett) about taking down the decorations on Halloween night. Moments later, she gets her comeuppance and becomes bloody and artsy décor on the front lawn. Her head is chopped off and her limbs hung with rope in the trees, a pumpkin lollipop shoved into her gaping mouth. Sam might be tiny, but he suffers no fools when it comes to the beloved holiday. It’s a gnarly image that drives home the film’s central theme: Halloween is sacred and should be treated as such.

With the long-awaited theatrical run this October, Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat remains an emblem for great anthologies everywhere and perfectly...

Stars: John Migliore, Chance Kelly, Grayson Kelly, Sébastien Godin, Steve Kasan, Ellen Mildred, Trevor Payer, Jordan Randall, Jennie Russo, Simon Wheeldon | Written by Trevor Payer | Directed by Brett Kelly

Where to start with Konga TNT? How about the same place I started with when reviewing director Brett Kelly’s Ouija Shark… in that you really have to be in the right mindset to watch Kelly’s particular brand of low-budget genre fare. Or ridiculously drunk and/or wasted!

Like Ouija Shark, Konga TNT harkens back to the shot on video era of filmmaking, where friends got together to make films that remarkably made it to video stores, thanks to a film-hungry rental market. Of course here we’re obviously dealing with mofre modern technology but the ethos behind it still feels very old-school. In this case Kelly apparently shot footage with his kids during lockdown to keep them occupied and...

Konga TNT is a fun giant gorilla film directed by Brett Kelly that features appearances from such genre actors as Jennie Russo (She Kills), Chad Walls (Homicycle), Ian Quick (Hell at My Heels), Seb Godin (Lycanimator), Steve Kasan (Necropolis:Legion), John Migliore(Exorcism of the Dead), Trevor Payer(My Fair Zombie), Tomb Dragomir …

The post Giant Gorilla Rampage In Konga TNT – Now Out On DVD!! appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Konga TNT – Srs Cinema is excited to announce the acquisition of the giant kaiju movie “Konga TNT” from Brett Kelly. After becoming injected with a formula derived from an alien ship, a lab gorilla escapes from his containment and befriends two young boys. The alien formula causes the gorilla to grow to gargantuan size …

The post Konga TNT – Roars To Home Media From Srs Cinema! appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Konga TNT is a fun giant gorilla film directed by Brett Kelly that features appearances from such genre actors as Jennie Russo (She Kills), Chad Walls (Homicycle), Ian Quick (Hell at My Heels), Seb Godin (Lycanimator), Steve Kasan (Necropolis:Legion), John Migliore (Exorcism of the Dead), Trevor Payer (My Fair Zombie), …

The post Konga TNT – Giant Gorilla Action Film First Look!! appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

Stars: Steph Goodwin, Kylie Gough, Robin Hodge, John Migliore, Amy Osborne, Christina Roman, Zoe Towne, Peter Whittaker | Written by David A. Lloyd | Directed by Scott Patrick (aka Brett Kelly)

Director Brett Kelly, under his Scott Patrick pseudonym, re-teams with writer David A. Lloyd for the duos Third shark movie – possibly the craziest of the three… Ouija Shark. Yes, Ouija Shark. As if we need Another supernatural shark movie after the brilliance (and no I’m Not being sarcastic) that was Griff Furst’s Ghost Shark.

With a title like Ouija Shark you’re either all in or you’re running a thousand miles in the other direction… so to try and convince you to watch this one, if it sounds like your idea of hell, would seem like folly. But I’m going to try!

Ouija Shark follows a group of teenage girls who, whilst partying in their back yard,...

Essie Davis in ‘Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears.’ (Photo credit: Ben King)

Greg J. Walker’s original motion picture soundtrack of Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears will be released on February 21, six days before the film opens in Australian cinemas.

Composer, recording artist, arranger and producer Walker wrote the score for the TV series produced by Every Cloud Productions.

For the movie which follows Essie Davis’ Miss Phyrne Fisher as she heads to Jerusalem to fight injustice and oppression, he composed an orchestral score with new, exotic instruments to match the escapades on screen.

Walker used Lawrence of Arabia and the Indiana Jones movies as key musical references as well as the cheeky spirit of the 1920s.

“I had to, in some ways, start from scratch and get out of my comfort zone; there was a long period of searching for the right musical keys to unlock this one,...

Billy Bob Thornton took a method style approach to his 2003 holiday classic Bad Santa.

The actor, 64, opened up about the making of the film during a sit-down interview on Entertainment Weekly‘s Couch Surfing. Thornton played Willie T. Stokes who reunites with his friend every year for a holiday con.

Posing as a Santa Claus at a mall, Stokes arrives drunk during a photocall with children looking to tell Santa about their Christmas lists. Thornton admitted he “was drunk” during the scene as a way to get into character.

“It’s so obvious. I drank about three glasses of red wine for breakfast.

One of the first films I covered “for real” in my professional career was Michael Dougherty’s Trick ’r Treat, a film I had the distinct pleasure of being able to see back in 2008 when I came out to cover Screamfest for the very first time that year. When Dougherty’s brilliant celebration of Halloween traditions seemed to come and go very unceremoniously with its home media release in 2009, I was a bit heartbroken because while I love that there are movies that us genre fans can sort of claim as “our own,” it just felt like Trick ’r Treat was so worthy of love by fans in and outside of the genre, and most people outside of the online horror circles didn’t even know it had ever come out.

So, with the passing of a decade now, nothing has made me happier than to see Trick ’r Treat...

And so, once again, that time of year is quickly creeping up on us. Christmas is only just around the corner and it will soon be time to dust off our Xmas movie DVDs and Blu-rays. This year, why not add another to your list as we have 3 copies of Bad Santa 2 to giveaway on Blu-ray.

Bad Santa is back to put the XXX into Xmas as Billy Bob Thornton returns as anti-festive hero Willie Soke. Far from bringing joy this Santa is fuelled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred and this Christmas Willie teams up again with his angry little sidekick, Marcus (Tony Cox), to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve.

Along for the ride is ‘the kid’ – cheery Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), a 250-pound ray of sunshine who brings out Willie’s sliver of humanity. However things get complicated when the gang are joined by...

Our pals over at Rue Morgue put out the scoop on Ghasties, Brett Kelly’s throwback film to the creature feature horror/comedies of the 80’s. The film is going to be coming to Blu-ray/DVD combo and Digital HD on November 11th… Continue Reading →

The post Ghasties Pays Homage to the Creature Features of the 80’s appeared first on Dread Central.

When I reviewed Bad Santa 2 here at We Are Movie Geeks, I wrote: “Thornton’s Willy is still an amusing, deadpan movie character with the power to shock, the perfect antidote to the usual saccharine Christmas confection. Whether he’s swigging booze, cussing at the children he has no patience with, or having rough sex in an alley (or bathroom), Willy epitomizes everything a street corner Santa shouldn’t be. Matching Thornton in terms of coarseness is Kathy Bates, but there is surprising depth to the relationship between mother and son, and much of their back and forth is side-splitting….” read the rest of my review Here

Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox and Brett Kelly reunite in Bad Santa 2 , the funniest, raunchiest and most inappropriate film of the year, releaseed on Est on February 14 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and VOD February 21. Fueled by cheap whiskey and greed,...

Actors like to act, and even if the movies they’re acting in don’t always work out as planned, there can still be notable performances to be gleaned from them. Here’s a salute to some of the best dramatic work delivered in some decidedly non-notable movies: Brett Kelly – “Bad Santa 2” Kelly’s Thurman Merman may be older than in the previous “Bad Santa,” but he’s no wiser, and Kelly’s wide-eyed naïveté steals the picture. Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Miss Sloane” There were plenty of script problems in this lobbyist drama, but Mbatha-Raw’s portrayal of an activist...

Heading into this holiday weekend, it was expected that last weekend's winner, the Harry Potter spin-off, would not repeat at the box office, going up against four high-profile new releases. The box office hit went up against four new titles that all opened in wide release on Wednesday, Disney's Moana, Paramount's Allied, Broad Green Pictures' Bad Santa 2 and 20th Century Fox's Rules Don't Apply. As expected, Moana easily took the top spot with a three-day weekend tally of $55.5 million, and a five-day total of $81.1 million.

Box Office Mojo reports that Moana opened in 3,875 theaters this weekend, with an impressive $14,329 per-screen average. No budget figures were released for this animated adventure, which came in quite lower than Disney's hit animated movies such as Frozen ($67.3 million) and Zootopia ($75 million). Both of those films ended up earning over $1 billion worldwide during their full theatrical runs, but it remains to be seen whether...

Undoubtably the dirtiest mainstream comedy of the year, Bad Santa 2 is lacking the critical elements of surprise and heart the first film had underneath its nihilist exterior. Billy Bob Thorton’s Willie Soke returns, as hung-over and down-and-out as ever, stuck in a dead-end job as a 50-something stock boy living in a crappy motel. He’s not good at anything; he can’t even get his own suicide right as he sticks his head into his oven only to discover its electric. In the middle of his botched suicide attempt, the slow-witted kid from the first film, Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), shows up, grown up and now working as a “sandwich artisan” at a sub chain. He still means well, even if he’s unable to read any signs of human behavior in a joke that falls quite flat.

Even though they should have left a good thing alone,...

MaryAnn’s quick take… Hard to believe it took 13 years to get a sequel to our screens and still have it show not a hint of Bad Santa’s inspiration or subversion. I’m “biast” (pro): loved the first film

I’m “biast” (con): didn’t see the need for a sequel

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Hard to believe that the notorious anti-Christmas classic Bad Santa is 13 years old. Even harder to believe that this sequel — the unimaginatively titled Bad Santa 2 — took so long to get to our screens and yet show not a lick of the first movie’s inspiration or subversion. It took more than a decade to come up with what is little more than a pale imitation of an original that had wrapped itself up very satisfyingly? Why bother if there isn’t something new to add?

There’s an effortless lightness,...

A lot can happen in 13 years: You can watch two wars start and finish; you can see social media platforms sprout up and change the public conversation; you can elect a country's first black president and its first orange one. What you apparently can't do, however, is teach an old dog like Willie Soke, the profane petty crook and several-leagues-less-than-jolly St. Nick for hire of Bad Santa, new tricks – or worse, make his old tricks somehow still seem appealing by default. For those of us who love Terry Zwigoff's...

To celebrate the release of Bad Santa 2 in Irish cinemas on November 23rd, we’re giving you the chance to win an awesome merchandise prize bundle including; Bad Santa 2 hoodie, Santa hat, door sign, hip flask and Christmas baubles. To win, simply enter your details below and we'll pick some winners next week Bad Santa 2 (cert 16) returns Academy Award-winner Billy Bob Thornton to the screen as everyone’s favourite anti-hero, Willie Soke. Fuelled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie teams up once again with his angry little sidekick, Marcus (Tony Cox), to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve. Along for the ride is ‘the kid’ – chubby and cheery Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), a 250-pound ray of sunshine who brings out Willie’s sliver of humanity. Mommy issues arise when the pair are joined by Academy Award, Golden Globe and Emmy-winner Kathy Bates, as Willie...

Billy Bob Thornton returns, in a middling comedy sequel that's willing to break a few rules. It's Bad Santa 2...

I am all for anything that represents Christmas as the hellish festival of torment that it is, but there’s a line at which misanthropy stops being loveable shtick and starts meaning you don’t get invited to parties anymore. Bad Santa 2 doesn’t necessarily cross that line, but it is way too preoccupied with trying to.

Anti-heroes work better in TV than in film, I think: there’s more time to let you grow to root for and even like them. In film you have to set them up, show them being a total bastard, then set them on a path to some sort of redemption within a couple of hours. Bad Santa 2, to its credit, is brave enough not to shoot for actual redemption, instead aiming...

Comedy sequels are notoriously tough to pull off. Nobody will be satisfied by merely repeating jokes and gags from the original, but if you change the formula too much you risk alienating fans. Though it’s an inferior sequel, Bad Santa 2 balances that dilemma just enough to recommend. Director Terry Zwigoff’s original Bad Santa from way back in 2003, was an uproarious all-out assault on political correctness. Billy Bob Thornton played Willie Soke, a crass, vulgar drunken crook who, with his midget sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), spent each Christmas working as a department store Santa with the aim of robbing their place of employment. Bad Santa was a misanthropic opposite to the season’s traditional batch of sugary sweet holiday stories. Now 13 years later comes the sequel. Zwigoff (who hasn’t made a film since 2006’s Art School Confidential) is out, replaced by Mark Waters, best known for Mean Girls,...

This holiday season, why not distract yourself from all the seething hate around you with more hate on screen? Admittedly, Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa is a raucous Christmas comedy that jingles my bells – but Bad Santa 2 is downright despicable. Mean-spirited, perverse and emptier than an alcoholic’s three-day-old vodka bottle. Zwigoff’s original film works a tight ensemble comedy angle, but Mark Waters’ second coming is worse than any family’s most inebriated member (even sicker than Brian Posehn’s Uncle Nick).

Imagine your drunk Uncle. Now imagine him puking on the dinner table, putting out his cigarette in the bile and then proceeding to fuck whatever cooked bird was served – in front of everyone, while laughing. Bad Santa 2 is the equivalent of that unstable mess, never living up to the sinful sentiments of 2003’s first mall-Santa heist.

Billy Bob Thorton is back once again as Willie Soke,...

Plot: It’s been more than ten years since we’ve seen Willie (Billy Bob Thornton), but he’s as drunk and pathetic as ever, with only the now adult Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly) keeping him company as he enters middle age. Broke and on the verge of ending it all, he’s lured to Chicago by his old partner Marcus (Tony Cox) with the promise of an easy score involving his... Read More...

Despite dominating at the box office last weekend with $74.4 million, Warner Bros.' Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may be in danger of relinquishing its box office crown already. Four new releases hit theaters over a crowded Thanksgiving holiday frame, with Disney's Moana, starring Dwayne Johnson, Paramount's Allied, starring Brad Pitt, Broad Green Pictures' Bad Santa 2 starring Billy Bob Thornton and Rules Don't Apply starring Alden Ehrenreich vying for the box office crown. While it may come down to the wire, we're predicting that Moana unseats Fantastic Beasts over the holiday weekend.

Box Office Mojo reports that Moana is set to debut in over 3,800 theaters this weekend, which is still roughly 350 theaters less than Fantastic Beasts. Allied is expected to roll out in approximately 3,000 theaters, while Bad Santa 2 will debut in more than 2,500 theaters and Rules Don't Apply is expected to arrive in 2,300 theaters this weekend.

Thirteen years later, Billy Bob Thornton returns to the big screen in his red suit for Bad Santa 2, and now has a new accomplice in Kathy Bates, who plays his loudmouth biker mother Sunny.

“I loved creating a biker chick, I’ve always wanted a motorcycle,” Bates, 68, tells People about her character who sports a massive snake tattoo. “I’d love to have tattoos but I can’t you know in my business but I just love going into somebody else’s world, somebody else’s mindset.”

Since the first film was released in 1993, two Bad Santa headliners, Bernie Mac and John Ritter,...

In the sequel Bad Santa 2, we get to see just why Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) is such a down-on-his-luck, foul-mouthed, alcoholic mess. Enter Willie's mother, the repugnant Sunny Soke, played with relish by Kathy Bates. It's been several years since Willie pulled any heists with his angry little sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), and life still hasn't treated him any better. In fact, it's way worse. He can't keep a job, is always drunk and Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), now...

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Billy Bob Thornton dons the Santa Claus suit once again as the cheap-whiskey-soaked, foul-mouthed Willie in the sequel Bad Santa 2. It's been several years since Willie pulled any heists with his angry little sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), and life still hasn't treated him any better. In fact, it's way worse. He can't keep a job, is always drunk and Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), now a 21-year-old man-child, still hangs around. So when Marcus shows up to ask if he'll help him...

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Billy Bob Thornton dons the Santa Claus suit once again as the cheap-whiskey-soaked, foul-mouthed Willie in the sequel Bad Santa 2. It's been several years since Willie pulled any heists with his angry little sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), and life still hasn't treated him any better. In fact, it's way worse. He can't keep a job, is always drunk and Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), now a 21-year-old man-child, still hangs around. So when Marcus shows up to ask if he'll help him...

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Bad Santa 2 is as gloriously raunchy as the original. Bravo to the filmmakers for having the guts to make it just as ribald and patently offensive. The humor is spectacularly low brow, the cursing comes on like a freight train, and the sex scenes are literally trashy. There's not a drop of decency here. But you will laugh yourself into the ground, get up, and then fall back down again. It's really that funny.

The story picks up thirteen years later. Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is still a hopeless drunk. He works menial jobs, lives in a fleabag hotel, and oh yes, still adored by the goofy Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly). Thurman is all grown up, big-hearted, utterly na&#239ve, and still making sandwiches; this time for a living at a local sandwich shop. Willie is near suicide when he gets an intriguing package. His old partner, Marcus (Tony Cox), is out of prison.

“Happy endings are bullshit,” says Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) at the beginning of “Bad Santa 2,” and don’t we know it. A disheveled, alcoholic, womanizing criminal in a Santa suit may be just the face to epitomize our troubled times, but that doesn’t justify this thinly conceived sequel to 2003’s delightfully mean-spirited black comedy, which plays like an idiot fan tribute to the original.

Trading brains for repetition, “Bad Santa 2” rejects the ambiguous finale of the first installment, which left viewers wondering if the giddy happy ending was real or imagined. Did Willie die? Go to jail? Or actually find some modicum of domestic bliss? Directed by Terry Zwigoff from a wry script by Glenn Requa and John Ficarra — based on an original idea floated by the Coen brothers — “Bad Santa” existed within the bad vibes of its obnoxious antihero; you could even feel sorry for him.